Jodhi May | |
---|---|
Born |
Jodhi Tania Edwards 8 May 1975 Camden Town, London, England, UK |
Nationality | British |
Education | Wadham College, Oxford |
Occupation | Actress, director, writer |
Years active | 1988–present |
Jodhi Tania May (born Jodhi Tania Edwards; 8 May 1975) is an English stage, film, and television actress. She remains the youngest recipient of the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival, for A World Apart (1988).
She was born Jodhi Tania Edwards in 1975 in Camden Town, London, to a French-Turkish mother and German father. Her name was later legally changed to Jodhi Tania May.
Her mother, Jocelyn Hakim, is an art teacher of French-Turkish Jewish descent who as a student arranged to marry artist-designer Malcolm McLaren to obtain citizenship, paying him £50 to marry her in a Lewisham register office in 1972. They later divorced, a move that cost McLaren’s grandmother £2000 to secure for him. Jodhi has not publicly identified her father, besides stating he is German. She was educated at Camden School for Girls.
May first acted at the age of 12 in 1988's A World Apart. The role earned her a Best Actress award at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, shared with her co-stars Barbara Hershey and Linda Mvusi.
Other than a brief lull while studying English at Wadham College, Oxford, she has had near constant work since her debut, and can regularly be seen on film, television and the British stage.
Notable roles have included Alice Munro in Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, Lea Papin in Sister My Sister, Florence Banner in Tipping the Velvet, Anne Boleyn in the first adaptation of The Other Boleyn Girl, and Sabina Spielrein in the play The Talking Cure.